


Chasing Echoes

by Miranthia



Category: Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-23
Updated: 2017-12-23
Packaged: 2019-02-18 20:59:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13108428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Miranthia/pseuds/Miranthia
Summary: "What we do now echoes in eternity." --Marcus Aurelius





	Chasing Echoes

“Alright, I think…….this is it.” she panted as she climbed the stairs, her arms laden down with the ingredients that she was sent off to get.  She plodded across the landing and sat them next to the open journal, her companion flipping through the pages of her mother’s journal silently.  
  
“Read them off to me again?”  
  
“Finely ground bone meal.”  
  
Cicero chose the bowl that contained a fine white powder, scooting it over towards the woman.  “Check.  
  
“Soul gem shards.”  
  
“Double check.”  she grinned slightly and took her companion by the hand, the small imperceptible smile that curled the corners of the other woman’s lips making her stomach flutter.  She pressed the small purple chunks into the palm of Serana’s hand and winked at her, before clearing her throat and raising her eyebrows expectantly.  
  
The dark-haired woman finally stopped flipping through the ancient tome and looked over at the younger woman, allowing the smile to overcome her features before the listing off their last ingredient.  “And purified void salts.”  
  
“Not to be confused with fire salts.  Which, were right next to these.” she took the last bowl up in her hands and grinned once more.  “Check!  Now what?”  
  
“We add them all to the basin.”  Cicero nodded and followed Serana to the opposite side of the landing, a basin standing on an impressive stone pedestal.  The landing itself jutted out over the massive set of circular rings set in the center of the floor, a gap in the railing allowing one to look out over themt.  “I don’t think I’ve ever thought to say this, but thank you.”  
  
Cicero frowned slightly as she handed over the bowl, watching as the woman added all of the ingredients to the deep bowl.  “For what?”  
  
“For this.”  Serana said simply, finally allowing for her yellow eyes to lock onto the deep chestnut orbs.  “For helping me.  This shouldn’t have been your burden at all, yet here you are.”  
  
“Well, I want to stop your crazy father as much as you do, and this is the best way to go about it.”  She snickered slightly and flinched as the woman hit her playfully, Cicero rubbing the spot on her arm ruefully.  “But seriously though, it’s no trouble at all; you are more than welcome.  I know Tymbir would have jumped all over this if she could have, but being a Dragonborn and all….she kind of has a lot on her plate.  Helping out baby sis the least I could do.”  
  
“Tymbir is your sister?”  
  
“THAT’S a story for another day.  Maybe after we find your mother, yeah?”  Cicero clapped her hands once and cleared her throat, looking at the basin.  “Now what?  Is there some kind of chemical reaction or something that’s supposed to happen?  Is the stuff gonna blow up?”  
  
Serana laughed and shook her head, rolling her left sleeve up over her wrist.  “No, nothing’s going to blow up I promise.  Is that a common occurrence in your life?”  
  
“I am just a blacksmith, but you’d be surprised….”  
  
The other woman shook her head in amusement and brought her wrist up to her mouth, her sharp fangs delicately sinking into the flesh.  Serana held her bleeding appendage over the basin and let her blood drip down onto the ingredients, Cicero watching in awe as the middle of the room was engulfed in a lovely light, the rings sinking into the floor and a set of stone stairs appearing in the gap.  
  
“She actually did it.”  Serana said in awe, slowly wiping the blood from the corners of her mouth.  “She created a portal to the Soul Cairn.”  
  
“Can I ask you something?”  Cicero asked after a moment, her eyes glued to the portal that had appeared in the center of the room.  
  
“Of course.”  
  
“What will you do,” she started, tearing her eyes away from the light and focusing her gaze on the woman standing next to her, studying her carefully.  “If we find your mother?”  
  
Serana took in a deep breath and let it out evenly, slowly shaking her head and shrugging her shoulders slightly.  “I don’t know.  I’ve been asking myself that ever since we came back to this castle.  She was so sure of what we did to my father, that I just couldn’t help but go along with her.  I never….”  
  
“Thought of the cost?”  
  
“Yeah.”  
  
Cicero continued to study her for a moment before she smiled slightly and nodded, carefully inching closer to the woman.  “It sounds to me like she was doing everything for your sake.”  
  
Serana laughed shortly and shrugged, looking down at her feet.  “Possibly.  I guess, even a vampire mother is still a mother.  She worried about me, about all of us, but…” she looked back up, a little taken aback about how close Cicero had gotten to her.  
  
“She was just protecting you, Serana.”  
  
“Yes.  She wanted to get me as far away from my father as she could, before he really went over the edge.”  
  
“We won’t know for sure until we find her.”  
  
“Yes.” she smiled slightly and tilted her head to one side, studying the woman in front of her carefully.  “Thank you, I didn’t expect anyone to care about how I feel about her.”  
  
Cicero snorted and raised an eyebrow, a skeptical smile on her lips.  “You obviously don’t get out much.  Let’s go then, shall we?”  
  
“Wait, you can’t-”  Serana winced as Cicero yelped and jumped back up the stairs, shaking her hands and stomping her feet like she’d been burnt and electrocuted at the same time.  “I’m sorry, I was afraid of that.  I should have stopped you sooner.”  
  
“What was that?!”  
  
Serana sighed heavily, a frown creasing her brow.  “It was the Soul Cairn.  It’s….hungry, for lack of a better word….and it requires payment.”  
  
Cicero stared at her blankly.  “Come again?”  
  
“It’s trying to take your soul, as ‘payment’ for entering it.  I can enter with no problems, and if you were a Dragonborn I’d be able to trap part of your soul for a little while.  But…”  
  
“But I’m just human.”  Cicero nodded and chewed on her bottom lip in thought, knowing what the answer was going to be.  “Is there anything that can be done?”  
  
“Yes, but I don’t think you’re going to like it.”  Serana said quietly, her eyes fixated on her clasped hands in front of her.  The wound on her wrist was already healed, nothing but a blood smear left behind as the reminder.  She felt the fingers underneath her chin and allowed her eyes to raise to the chestnut orbs in front of hers.  “I could turn you.  Afterwards there may be a chance of changing you back, but it’s not always….”  
  
Cicero nodded slightly but remained quiet, letting the information slowly sink in.  After a minute or two she laughed slightly.  “You know, even if Tymbir were here, the only way you’d be able to get her in is by trapping part of her soul.”  
  
“What do you mean?”  
  
“I don’t think you could get rid of her affliction, no matter how hard you tried to.” she noticed the confused look on the vampire’s face and laughed once more.  “Story time it is, then!  Tymbir is my sister, but not by blood.  I was five when we lost my mother; she got sick one winter, and just never came back from it.  When I was around ten my dad met Kate, and it was like love at first sight.  She was a lot like mama, so I couldn’t complain.  Anyways, she had been pregnant when they met, and six or so months later Tymbir was born.  I was super excited because I’d always wanted a sibling!  She was very different, then what I expected babies to be like.  She was quiet, and learned how to do things faster than I think she probably should have.  But, we were inseparable.  When she was five,  _they_  came.”  
  
“They who?”  
  
“I don’t know.  Still don’t know.  I think they were sent by Tymbir’s father, though.  Kate never talked about the man that had gotten her pregnant; anytime she was asked about it, she would either clam or up immediately change the subject.”  Cicero broke off and looked out across the landing, her eyes resting on the large archway that led out to the balcony.  “They attacked us.  They killed Kate, and then our father.  I’d been beaten up, trying to keep Tymbir safe from it all, but after they knocked me down the leader grabbed her, and attacked her.  Something…….something within her  _snapped_ , and she killed him.  She ripped his throat out with her teeth and then turned on the rest.  There had always been something vaguely feral about her…. I nursed her back to health, and she stayed with me for a long time, up until she left one morning.  I tracked her here, and I find out that she’s a Dragonborn, and part of the Companion’s.”  
  
“She suffers from lycanthropy, doesn’t she?”  Serana asked after a moment, surprised that she hadn’t picked that up about the woman the second they had saved her from her crypt.  
  
“I think she was predisposed to it, to be honest.  I’m pretty sure the man that had impregnated Kate was a werewolf, and Tymbir was born with certain traits.  Aela and the other Companions, just fed something that was already there.”  
  
Serana jumped slightly as she felt a hand close over her own, a blush faintly coloring her cheeks.  “I’m ready, Serana.  I promised that I would help you, and if the only way I can keep that promise is by becoming like you, then I’m willing to do it.”  
  
“Are you sure?”  Serana asked quietly, squeezing the hands that were gripping hers as she locked her eyes on Cicero’s once more, slowly searching the orbs with her own.  “You have to be completely certain of this, because everything will change.  I don’t know how the Dawnguard will react after….”  
  
“I don’t need to think about it, Serana.”  she said with a slight smile.  “I knew my answer before you had even told me what needed to be done.”  
  
“Turning someone,” Serana started, the blush returning to her cheeks as she shifted uncomfortably to her other foot.  “Is a very personal thing for vampires.  It’s…..intimate….for us.  I don’t want you to feel like I’m forcing you into anything.”  
  
Cicero smirked as she studied the woman before her, still as captivated by her as she had been the moment they unearthed her from her crypt.  Without a second thought she curled an arm around her waist and brought their bodies closer, capturing the vampire’s lips with her own.  Serana gasped in shock and Cicero used that moment to deepen their kiss, thanking every God and Goddess she could think of when the other woman didn’t pull away.  
  
“You aren’t forcing me into anything, and I’m glad that it’ll be you to change me.”  Cicero whispered against the Vampire’s lips, smiling as she felt fingers tangle in her hair and pull her back in for another searing kiss.  After a moment the lips broke away from hers to trail across her jawline and down her neck, Cicero tilting her head back to give the woman better access.  She felt Serana’s tongue brush across her skin tenderly and braced herself for what was to come next, a hiss escaping her clenched teeth and a moan ripping itself out of her lungs as the fangs sank into her delicate flesh.  
  
Serana held the woman in place firmly, relishing in the taste of her copperfy blood for a moment before she let her go, replacing her fangs with her tongue once more as she cleaned the wound on Cicero’s neck.  She whispered soothingly in the woman’s ear as she began to burn up and tremble violently, the sickness streaming through her veins and overtaking her immediately.  
  
After a moment the trembling stopped and Cicero took in a deep breath, the slight prickling sensation that had overcome her gums subsiding as she delicately ran her tongue over her long canines, the coppery taste of blood overcoming her mouth as the sharp fang pricked the end of her tongue.  She would need time to ruminate over what happened, and really let her decision sink in, but that would have to wait.  
  
Right now, they had a mission.  
  
Serana took the auburn haired woman by the hand and smiled, pressing her lips to the back of it before she walked towards the stairs, pulling the woman after her.  “Let’s go find my mother, then.”


End file.
